Life Force - NES
Version 1.1
December 5, 2000
inkhands@yahoo.com


====================
Table of Contents
====================
 
  1. Introduction
  2. Version History
  3. Weapons
  
  4. Stage One
  5. Stage Two
  6. Stage Three
  7. Stage Four
  8. Stage Five
  9. Stage Six

 10. Credits
 11. Copyright

====================
1. Introduction
====================

Life Force was released in 1988 I believe. I also believe it was 
the sequel to Gradius. It's a shooter, but it's a highly challenging
one. It also alternates in what type of perspective it has. The
even stages (2, 4, 6) have a vertical scrolling view. The odd 
stages (1,3,5) have a horizontal side scrolling view. You are
only granted a few continues and a few ships per continue, 
and this is one of the most challenging shooters around. Yet,
it's not the absolutely hardest game ever made. It's easy once
you remember the few patterns. The patterns are fairly simple
actually and the game isn't as hard as it first appears to be. 


====================
2. Version History
====================

Version 1.0 - First version. Covers the weapons and the six
stages in as much detail as I can possibly cover them at this
time. The bosses and tips on how to beat them are included
at the end of each stage section. (Dec 4, 200)

Version 1.1 - Fixed typos. Added some minor details I 
left out. 

====================
3. Weapons
====================

Life Force uses the following upgrade system: After killing enemies
you will then be able to sometimes pick up some power up items.
You have a bar at the bottom of the screen. Each bar is represented
by a type of power up. There are six types and I will describe them
below. 

Speed allows you to actually speed up your ship. The second is
missile, this will give you two extra shots and these are handy to
use while attacking enemies on the top and bottom of the screen.
Also, the sides. The third type of power up is ripple. This is a 
powerful addition to your weapon and it allows you to shoot
at long range. The next is a plutonic laser, and it's more powerful
than the ripple beam and you can shoot with distance on this one 
as well. Next up is the option upgrade and that will give you a side
ship onto your ship and it will fire when you do. The final is a 
force upgrade. This will give your ship a powerful defensive
shield and it can sustain more damage.

If you pick up one powerup, you can either use it and increase
your speed, which will take you back down to nothing on the 
bar. Or you can wait and use it on one of the other levels. Such
as on number four upgrade to use the plutonic laser. If you lose
a ship, you lose all your upgrades. You also go down to only
one powerup. If you were at the 5th bar and on option, but lose
a ship, you go down to only speed on the bar. In terms of control,
just use the B button to fire and the A button to actually
select an upgrade when it's on the one you want on your 
upgrade bar. 

===========================
4. Stage One - Cell Stage
===========================

The game opens and your ship flies out into action. This opening stage 
is a horizontal scrolling stage, the action moves from left to right.
The first enemies you will encounter are very weak and they only take
one hit to kill each of them. However, five of them fly together in a set.
They will move toward you on a straight path, but they will then move
at an angle and then straight again. It's best to catch them as they are 
first coming out of the right side of the screen. If you kill all five of them
in a set, the fifth one will leave behind a powerup. A dozen of these sets
will come out, which totals 60 enemies within only the first 60 or 70 seconds
of game time. The first four sets alternate in position. The first set moves
out from the middle, the second one is  near the top of the screen, the 
third is the middle again, and the fourth one is top. The remaining ones 
change the origin and they will begin coming out two sets at a time. The 
best thing you can do is to shoot up at least 6 of these sets. That will earn
you a force powerup. Anything else should be used on either a laser or
a ripple weapon. If not, use the missile upgrade. 

Once you clear these first butterfly like enemies, you will notice a type of
enemy that will make a few appearances in this first stage of the game. It
is a long blue arm. This particular one moves from out of the top of the
ceiling, yet it stays attached to the ceiling. It will move around and follow
your ship if you try to pass it. The best thing to do is to kill it immediately.
These arms are blue, but they have one block of brown on them. Shoot
this brown area a few times and the arm will be gone. Killing this arm will
make it easier to pass. Stay up top, because be aware that this is the stage
where cells will generate in a matter of seconds. So, you have cells that
will generate up to about middle ways up the screen from the bottom. You
also will have cells that will generate from the top just beyond the arm. You
will have the arm to avoid unless you kill it as soon as you seen it on the
screen. So basically, move up top and kill the arm and hang your ship back
and wait for the cells to form. Pass through between the cells that form at 
the bottom and the cells that will overhang a little from the top that have 
formed just beyond this area. 

Next you will have the choice of which path to take. You can move up top
or the bottom. I highly suggest you take the top road. Cells form in both
sections, however, they fully form and close off the area at the bottom.
You must move through this area incredibly fast to get through it. If you 
do manage, you still have to avoid more cells forming, but at least they
don't close you in completely. Take the top path. Hold up and move to the
top as far as you can. You won't hit anything and lose a ship and you will 
narrowly avoid the cells forming here. Quickly move down though, because
there are more cells that will form from the top. 

Quickly move a little to the bottom now, because some cells will form at 
the top of the screen. Kill the floating starfish thing if you want to, because
it will leave behind a powerup. This next thing is very important and tricky.
One of those blue arms will appear from the top of the screen and the bottom.
My advice here is to kill the bottom one as quickly as possible and move to
the right of the screen as far as you can and stay low. The reason is, cells
will form here, but they form from the top and bottom and they meet. This
closes you in and you can easily lose a ship there, unless you move through
it quickly. 

The next area of this stage will give you a brief reprieve from the cells. You 
will appear to be flying through a tube of some sort. The first things you 
encounter are the blue arms, one from the top and one from the bottom. Kill
one of them quickly and move through. The path breaks up and you can
take top or bottom here. Take either one, because it's identical. I usually
take the top. Either way, there are some enemies attached to the walls here.
Get close to the bottom where they lay, if you take the top. Shoot them.
There are three blue bouncing things on either path and an orange one. The
orange one will give you a powerup if you kill it. The blue ones don't benefit
you at all. The next thing will allow you to move top or bottom. The top is
very small, but the bottom has an arm. Quickly shoot it and pass through the
bottom. You are now out of this tube shaped area and back into the pink
cells area of the stage.

You fly around for a few seconds. The first thing you might notice next is
a large horn shaped thing pushing it's way out of the bottom of the screen.
It moves down and back up. There will also be one very nearby pushing
up and down out of the top. The best thing to do here is to hold your ship
back a little and watch for the perfect time when the bottom one is moving
down and then the top one is moving up. The next thing is two horns. They
are together and one will come out of the top. The other will be out of the
bottom and they will meet each other. You can't get through this unless you
wait until they are both out of the way. You have two more horns to avoid.
One will be at the bottom and a few seconds later,  you will find one at the 
top. These are both easy to avoid. While avoiding all the horns, you will
see some more orange looking enemies to shoot for powerups. Shoot them
if possible. Avoid them if it's taking a chance. Move through fast here,
because the cells completely grow together and enclose you there. 

Next you will find yourself in an area of vines. Avoid the things that look
like arrows that briefly move out of the top of the screen. These vines cover
the area from top the bottom. You have to shoot your way through them.
They will not regenerate, so just shoot a straight path through them. The 
only problem here is some of these vines have very ugly white growth on
them. These blobs take a few shots before you will be able to destroy them
and watch them explode. For this reason, it's a good idea to move back a little
if you find one on your path and keep firing until they are gone. There are
two sets of vines and they are very easy to maneuver your way through. 

Once you pass through these vines, be extremely careful. Cells will from
from top and bottom, but they form in a very odd shape. It's more like an
upside down V from the top. You basically have to move up through this
narrow passage and quickly back down. That is if you let the shape form
first. You also have to avoid about eight more of these arrows. You can hold
back and avoid the arrows and then pass through. Or you can immediately
swoop down to the bottom and right once you get out of the vines. This
will allow you to avoid everything, but remember to stay fairly low, but
if you stay too low, you might get caught by the cells forming at the bottom.
Any time you hit a wall in this game, you lose a ship. Cells coming out of
nowhere is a way to lose one fast. 

Now you are presented with what appears to be a tricky situation, but it
really isn't. The screen is filled with two types of obstacles. You have a set
of square blocks at the top of the screen. You also have a set of square
blocks at the bottom. In between is an arm. You can either shoot through
the blocks and make a passage or just shoot the blue arm's brown area.
That will allow you to easily move between the two blocks. If you do decide
to move through the blocks, keep in mind that they regenerate after a few
seconds. If you move up too far, you'll hit a block in front of you. If you
aren't fast enough though, some blocks will catch you from behind. 

Next you have an area that has a set of blocks sitting in the center of the
screen. At the top are a couple small enemies attached to the ceiling, like
in the earlier area, and shooting at you. At the bottom is the same. You can
either go for gunning them down, and risk losing a ship, and actually gain
nothing. Or you can just try to shoot a passage through the blocks, which
is easier. Once again be careful not to get caught by the regenerating blocks
behind you. 

Next you will find the screen is filled with these blocks. You have to shoot
through them. I recommend you take a passage through the center of the 
blocks. This set of blocks is long and it's best to hold the fire button down. The 
blocks will regenerate fairly fast. Once you get through these,  you will find
some of those small, enemies attached to the bottom and the top of the screen.
Hold your fire, avoid their shots, and move quickly to the next set of large 
blocks. Once again, I always take a path through the center. This time the blocks
regenerate much faster. Just hold down fire and blast through them. Now you're
ready to face the final boss of the stage.

This final boss is a very ugly monster. It's a large pink brain. A couple 
of the death arms that frequented this stage so much will come out 
of the sides of the brain. The brain has a weak spot though, and that
would be the large bulging eyeball in the front. If you have a regular 
weapon it should be around 25-30 shots before you kill it. If you
have an upgraded weapon, such as a laser, it's less. The brain moves 
in circles, and the arms reach out and follow you. However, they can 
only move so far.  You have the freedom to encircle the brain in your 
ship. Fly around and around the brain, shoot the eye any time you 
pass it, and be sure to avoid both the brain and those pesky  arms. 
By the way, the arms have no brown areas like the others in the stage. 
They can't be killed, so just avoid them. Stay out of their reach at
all times. In no time you should have this boss easily wiped out. 


================================
5. Stage Two - Volcanic Stage
================================

The second stage is now a vertical scrolling screen. The action is 
seen from an overhead perspective. The first enemies you encounter
are the same butterfly like enemies that began the first stage. They
still move out in a straight line and then into a Z formation. There are
around a dozen sets of these and the last few sets come in pairs. Some
of them now have a more floating left to right pattern than a straight or
a  Z pattern. That's the only difference. Once again I recommend you get
at least 6 of these sets killed and pick up the Force powerup. That force
shield will be helpful. Anything left over get the laser or ripple weapon. 
The missile and option never really helped much for me. The missile is
actually pretty good to use in this stage, due to the number of enemies
that are attached within the walls. 

Basically, you are flying over a volcano like area. This area has a very
brown look to it, whereas the first one had a pink look to it. There is no
fire in this stage yet though. The enemies are mostly of a mechanical
variety and they are saving the flames for the next stage. After only a
few sets of these butterflies have appeared, other enemies will be 
appearing from out of the bottom of the screen. They are free flying and
the closer they get to you, well obviously the more danger they are. You
can't shoot them until they are completely in view, but they are very easy.

After you get around to the last sets of these enemies, the walls will now
have some enemies attached to them and they will be firing little missiles
at you. If you have the force on your ship, you can take being hit a few
times by these. However, it's very easy to move your ship to the left or
right and shoot them as they are attached to the walls. Though you now
have around three types of enemies on screen at once, most of them are
easy, and it only takes one shot per enemy to destroy them.

Once you pass beyond this you will find a couple of tubes, one on each
wall, and they will be shooting enemies out at you. They move out fast
and there are numerous, because each one of the tubes shoot around 
6 or 7 out at once. It's fairly easy to shoot through them and move on. The
area will be empty a little while, but you can only pass left. Kill the couple
of enemies that appear out of the bottom of the screen. Earn a couple of 
powerups. The wall is very wide on the left. You will see a couple of 
those gun enemies on the wall again. Shoot the one on the left and 
move left and remember to avoid any shots the one on the right fires. 
It's better to avoid it than try to kill it. It's too narrow to get to and
it's taking a chance on losing a ship.

Once you are beyond this, you will see a couple of tubes. They will be 
shooting out little enemies that bounce around on the walls and fire
missiles at you. Now beware the narrow gap just ahead. The wall on the
right will begin shooting rocks out at you. Hang back and try to maneuver
through them. It's pretty easy to shoot these rocks too if you need to. One
shot will destroy one rock. Shoot and move your way through them. At the
same time the wall on the left will be shooting rocks as well just above the one
on the right. Avoid these the same way. Wait for a pause in between when the
rocks are falling out of the walls, and quickly move to the top of the screen.

The path is split up into two paths. You can go right or left. If you go right,
there are numerous enemies you will encounter. There is also a very narrow
passage and there is a chance rocks will shoot out at you. When you take
left, you can see it on screen. However, when I actually take the passage I
don't see any rocks. The left area only has a couple of wall enemies to 
shoot and about four of the enemies that appear out of the bottom and 
move up to get closer. However, once you pass through this passage, 
be aware that the left side will begin shooting rocks at you. Hang right once
you get out of the passage and wait for a pause and move through. If you
take the right way, you will easily be able to move out of the right passage
and avoid the rocks on the left, if you stay as far to the right on the screen
as far as you can.

Once you pass this you have to deal with four sets of asteroids that fall from
the top of the screen. It's very easy to move your ship around and find a clear
path between them. They are fairly large gray rocks. You can't actually shoot
them, but they move do by fast. At the same time you have a couple of enemies
that appear. Shoot them if possible and look for opening in the rocks around the
middle of the screen. Move your ship around a little and it will probably let you
be more prepared for the rocks that are about to appear. 

Once you pass them you can take left or right. It doesn't really matter, but I always
take the left path. The one on the left is clear, but the one on the right has brown
blocks you have to shoot through. Either way a large rock will appear on both
sides. They will hit something and turn into smaller rocks. They move very slowly
though and it's very easy to avoid them. Once you move out, you will you can 
take three paths. Either way there are enemies to avoid that fire at you from the
walls and blocks to shoot through. I usually take the middle path. That path has
less enemies and it's easy to kill the few that are there. The path on the right is very
narrow, making it harder to shoot the enemies, but it's possible. 

Once you move through this, shoot some blocks and take the middle 
path again. This one is the most narrow, but it has the least enemies 
again. You will then be forced to pass through it and into the right
side of the screen. There is no way to get to the left side from here. 
Shoot your way through the brown blocks you encounter. This is a large
set of blocks actually. You might encounter a power up or two along the
way. It doesn't matter which way you shoot them. However, there are
four enemies that will rise and move toward you. It's easy to shoot them
or avoid them. They move in a straight line. 

Once you get out of there, you will find yourself in a mechanical area. 
Immediately move to either the left or right side and shoot the the enemies
that are attached to the wall on that side. Then immediately move to the
other wall and do the same thing. Do this all as fast as possible and then
you can try to shoot the enemies that have appeared, but they will 
fly by you sooner or later. Now the main thing here is the fact there are
three large bubbles. One is on the left, one on the right, and one in the
middle. They will fire large silver balls at you and these balls move quickly.
They are also very deadly. The object is to kill the large bubbles. To do
so, you have to shoot out the white lines that block you away from the
bubbles. Basically, shoot a while and avoid the silver balls bouncing
around. There are a couple of different ways to do this. You can shoot
all three bubbles and move on, or just shoot out one of them and move
your ship into the area where it used to be. If you wait there, more than
likely you will be safe. Wait about a minute and the screen will scroll
up on it's own. However, there's a chance one of the silver bouncing
balls will move through this narrow area and destroy your ship. 

Once the screen does scroll, you can only take one of the three paths
that were cleared after you shot out one or all of the bubbles. You will
find a large set of purple blocks. Quickly shoot a path through them and
you will now face the final boss of the second stage. This boss features
a mechanical box area and four swinging arms. You have to shoot through
the white lines in the center and destroy the bubble in the middle of the
machine. This machine moves around in different patterns in circles. The
arms are constantly swinging clockwise. However, you can always encircle
the machine and avoid the arms. Some of them will catch you. This enemy
is fairly difficult. You have to use the bottom left and right to hold your ship.
Shoot when you can, move around the ship and wait in the top left or 
right. You can't just move around in circles and destroy it like on the first
stage. You have to wait and shoot before you destroy this enemy. I suggest
you mainly stay in the bottom left, move up to shoot the enemy, and move
back to the bottom left in time to avoid the swinging arms. 


=================================
6. Stage Three - Prominence Stage
=================================

The third stage is another horizontal scrolling stage, moving from left
to right. It's possibly the most difficult stage in the game, due to the
fact it's filled with lava and large flames shoot out of the lava unexpectedly.
The flames don't move straight up, but instead they arch out of the lava
and then flows back down into the lava. 

The first thing you encounter is six sets of birds. They fly in a set of 
five. If you kill all five per set, you earn a powerup. They don't fly straight.
Rather they move up and down. They are still easy to avoid and shoot,
but not as easy if they were moving in a straight path. After you pass
through these birds, the fire section of the stage begins. Lava is at the top
and the bottom of the screen. Pretty much all you have to avoid now is
hitting the lava and avoid the birds that fly around at the top and the 
bottom of the screen. Fireballs will occasionally drop out of the top and
then move back up. They will also come out of the bottom and move up. 
This lasts around 40 seconds and there's too hard here. The most difficult
thing is when you shoot a bird and it turns into a fireball and moves
toward your ship. 

You will now see a dragon looking enemy. It will circle around and around
and you can either avoid or try to kill it. It takes more than a few shots to
kill the thing though. Just beyond that, birds will drop out of the top
and come up out of the bottom. Avoid these a few seconds and then you
will encounter the first flame that will shoot out of the bottom of the screen
and arch around back down to the bottom. Stay up top and avoid this. Around
four fireballs will come out of the top and bottom. Then a flame will whirl
out of the top of the screen. Try to stay low and avoid it, but also avoid
the birds and the fireballs. 

Now another flame will come out of the top and a few seconds later
one will come out of the bottom. It's good to know that the next six
flames alternate. The first one is top, second is bottom, third is top 
again and so on. At the same time you have to deal with both fireballs
and birds. The third and fourth flame however don't just arch out once
and disappear. They keep recurring. They will shoot out, disappear, and
then shoot out again. After these six, you will be free from those
flames for a while. During this time you will be assaulted by the 
birds coming from the right. There are also very large fireballs that
will shoot out of the top and the bottom of the screen. Some will 
form in front of you and move back toward you. Others will form behind
you and move forward toward you. One shot will kill them, but they
cross together so quickly it's best to try to avoid them and fire at
the same time. 

Now you will encounter a flame at the top and one at the bottom. You
will then see another dragon. You will find a flame that shoots out of
the top, and it will be one that keeps reappearing. Move ahead a little
and one more will be shooting out of the bottom. It reappears also. The
screen will then stop scrolling once you pass it. You have to avoid or kill
one more dragon. They all shoot fire at you and this one does too. Kill
it and then you will face the final enemy of this stage. 

To me, this enemy is fairly easy. It's a large dragon and it appears out of
the right side of the screen. It moves up and down a little, and it shoots
out fire from his mouth every few seconds. It's easy to move up and down,
avoid the fire and shoot at the dragon's head. After a little while he will
eventually die. The best way I can tell you to avoid this is to remember if
he's low, he'll shoot, and then you can move up. He'll move up and just before
he shoots again, move back down. Keep repeating this until you destroy
him. 


=============================
7. Stage Four - Cell Stage 2
=============================

This is another vertical scrolling screen. This one combines a couple of
elements. At times the screen will scroll very quickly and then cells will
suddenly form in the shape of vines right in front of you. This is still a
fairly easy stage, but it's difficult until you memorize a few of the tricky
areas. 

The stage begins as the first two began. There are around ten sets of 
floating butterfly like enemies. Shoot them and get the powerups. There
are also ugly pink blobs that float around, that you can't actually shoot.
There are also things that look like pink frisbees and they shoot missiles
at you. I can't really explain this section too much. It's just a matter of
moving your ship around and avoid the enemies and their missiles. 

The background is actually brownish here. Then it will cut off and you will
move into a narrow area with a black background. This is when the stage
will begin to scroll incredibly fast. You have to avoid silver bouncing balls and 
the walls as you move through these areas. At first there are around six of 
these balls to avoid. The passage will swerve left and then right. Try to hold
back a little and then move forward. 

It will branch off and you can take two paths here. It's harder to stay on the
right, but if you can, you will have the chance to pick up around ten power up
items. If you want to play it safe, go left. Pass through this and then  you have
the chance to go three ways. Take the middle path. That's the easiest way. 
After you pass through the middle area, you will then only have one passage.
This passage will go right and straight. You have avoid more silver balls here.
You will then turn left for a while and then back right and straight. There are more
balls to avoid here. You will move left a little and then straight. You can take the
left or the right side. Either one is fine, I usually take the left path. You will move
and into a dark passage and the screen will stop it's speed scroll, and begin moving
it's usual slow pace again. 

However, now you have to avoid these large pink things that look like q-tips
sticking out from the walls. The bubble on them explode and three balls will
shoot out at you. I can't really tell you how to do this, you have just have to
play it and avoid both the q tips and the balls to the best of your ability. 
However, I got through it fairly easy. I can list their location on the walls though.
The first one is left, next is right. Then it goes in this order - left, right, right,
left, left, right, left, left, right and the final one is right. That makes a total of 
12 of these to avoid. 

After the twelfth one, hold your ship back a little. A thing of cells will 
suddenly appear before you. It covers the entire screen from left to right.
No matter where you move, you will hit it, unless you pull back and 
shoot a path through it. Hold back again and wait once you pass 
through it. Another one of those patches will appear. This one is the
same size as the first. Once you pass through it, wait, because a very
large one will appear. Shoot your way through it and wait again, because
yet another large one will appear. After you shoot your way through this
one, you will have a few seconds of nothing. 

You will probably notice a large brown oval shaped object in the center
of the screen. Hold back and to the right, because suddenly cells will
shoot out in all directions all around the object. Stay right. Another one
of these oval shaped objects will be just ahead though. Vines will
suddenly appear out of this one as well. Now you will notice another
one is ahead and to the right, followed by another one ahead and up
to the left. The fifth one is on the right. Now these five are easy to 
get through. Just hold back and shoot a path through them. 

Now one of them will appear on the left. It will be have vines, but they
will flash. They are there a second, then they are gone, and then back.
You can shoot these, but once they appear and reappear, they will
be complete, with no path. The next one will be on the right and flash.
The final one will be up on the left and flash. It's a good idea to move
from the right to the left, between the first two flashing ones, 
and then again from left to right between the second and last ones. You
really have to be able to fast to do this without losing a ship though. It
also takes really good timing. Just look for an opening. 

Now you will enter a brief area that looks like the opening of this
stage repeated. Five of the butterfly sets will appear and some more
of the pink blobs. They will all quickly pass by and you will find
yourself flying over a large golden rib cage. Each rib on the cage
will be shooting these really sharp objects out of them. The cage
has about 20-25 sets of ribs and they shoot alot of these of these
objects at you. However, they are very easy to avoid. The hard thing
to avoid here is the dropping metal objects you can't shoot and 
destroy with a normal weapon. They will bounce and break in to
two pieces and fall down toward your ship again. They don't move
in a set pattern. Instead they fall based on where your ship is. All
I can tell you to do is just move the ship around and try to avoid
these falling objects by knowing they fall and then bounce again.

Once you pass these, you will be on to the final boss of this 
stage. The boss is a large, skull. It will bounce around, open it's
mouth, and shoot little blue missiles at you. You can't shoot
the missiles, so you have to avoid them. You can't hurt the
skull while his mouth is closed. You can only cause it damage
while it has it's mouth open. The skull also has two large
eyeballs and they watch you at first. Then they come out of
their sockets and follow you around. A few shots will destroy
the eyeballs. Just keep moving your ship around, avoid the
blue missiles, and shoot the skull whenever you can. After a
while, it will be destroyed. 

================================
8. Stage Five - Temple Stage
================================

This stage is a horizontal scrolling stage, like the first and
the third stages in the game were. It opens with ten sets of
the butterfly enemies. However, this time they move in double
sets and there are only three per set now, which means there
will be six at once. They also now have the ability to fire 
missiles at you. As you pass through the stage you will 
see some enemies on the top and the bottom of the screen
firing at you. Then there will be a trap that will open up at
the top of the screen and around eight enemies will drop out
in a straight line and move toward you. Stay at the top and 
avoid them. As you near the trap, wait, and then pass through
the small opening between the trap and the top enemy that 
was dropped out. 

Next there is around fifteen blue asteroids 
bouncing all over the screen up and down. You can shoot 
some of these to earn some power ups. Once you pass
through these you will pass through the top of the screen,
because the rest is blocked off. The passage is not a narrow
one however. At first you will fight a couple sets of the
butterfly enemies and then you will move over to a large
area filled with large bouncing blue balls. When these balls
hit the left side of the screen, they explode, and the blue 
debris will fly toward you. Some of the enemies that 
appeared earlier will now be shot out of a trap at the bottom 
of the screen. Stay at the top. Now you will have to maneuver
between a passage, because there's a top overhanging and
then there's the bottom area. Avoid the enemies by staying
up top and then just as you are about to go down in, move
down, because the top three enemies will disappear off the
screen and then the bottom three will easily pass before you
pass. 

Coming out of this area you will notice four enemies at the 
top of the screen on the ceiling and four attached to the
floor. They will be firing at you. Try to avoid their missiles
and kill a few of them and pass through. Next there are a
couple of more enemies floating around that just look like
regular ships. At first you will encounter around six or seven
of them at once and then about four more, two at a time. They
are fairly easy to kill and avoid, though they do follow you 
around a little. 

Next there is an obstacle in the center of the screen. There is
a tube on the left, right, bottom and top of it. These tubes
are shooting out enemy ships. Shoot the tube that you get
to first, the one on the left of the obstacle. Then try to shoot
the ships and make your way through either the top or bottom
by either hitting the tubes or avoiding the ships. Once you 
pass this behind, around five of these ships will show up
behind you. At the same time you have around four enemies
at the bottom of the screen firing missiles at you. Move to the 
bottom and shoot these and quickly get out of the way. 

Next thing you have to do is moving through an area of 
falling spikes. They are falling from the top of the screen. I
can't explain where they land, but you really just have know
they do fall in somewhat of a pattern and there's always a way
to find a very small way to move through them and not get
hit by one. You'll now pass through an easy area with a few of
those butterfly moving things again. 

Next up is three large ships that move up and down, while moving
backwards so they will stay on screen until you shoot them. They
take a lot of shots to destroy and they fire red balls at you. If you
shoot the red balls, you can earn some upgrades, because they
leave behind power ups. It takes a while and they are really fast,
so it takes some effort, but after a while they will be destroyed.

You'll move through an empty area now. Some enemies will drop
out of a trap like in other areas of this stage. Avoid those the 
same way by moving up top. Now you will be getting ready to
enter the temple and this has a very nice Egyptian look to it.
Brown stones are everywhere. 

The only opening is down through the bottom. Once through
that narrow area, you will see two things at the top and two
at the bottom. They are shooting red blocks between each
other. You have to shoot the two at the bottom and then
pass through. Next you will see something that looks like 
six blue jacks. Then you have to shoot your way through
four more of those white things shooting red balls between
each other. You will then finally move out of the narrow 
area at the bottom of the screen. 

You have to avoid stone columns. Some of these are from
the top and moving down and others are at the bottom
and moving up. Just move your ship through this area
carefully and take the time to think about it. Always move
through when the top one is on it's way back up and 
the bottom ones are on their way back down. Then  you'll
see some columns that will hit each other. Then you'll be
out of this area and that one's pretty easy. 

Next you can take the empty bottom passage or the top
one filled with blocks. Take the top one and shoot out
the blocks. The reason is, you will get three power ups
as you shoot these blocks out. Then you have to pass
down to the bottom and up through a passage, while 
avoiding a blob stuck to the left side of the wall and 
shooting missiles at you. Then  you have to move down
through another passage and back up through another
one, all while avoiding these blobs. Avoid some blue
jacks after you pass through.

Next you have to shoot your way through some blocks
no matter which way you go. Shoot through the 
bottom set for powerups, move through and shoot
through the set of blocks for a couple of more power
ups. The other blocks have some minor power ups,
but you can just shoot your way through these anyway
you want to. Next avoid a set of blue jacks and some
enemies attached to the top and bottom of the screen,
and firing at you. Then you are to the final enemy of this
stage, which looks like King Tut actually. It's a large
Egyptian head. 

Stones from the top will begin to fall. Move forward and
wait for the back ones to fall. Wait and find an opening
and move backwards as the others fall. This head thing
will have a circle around him. He will also shoot blue and
red missiles at you. Avoid them and manage to shoot
through the rings and hit this thing's eye. He will move up
and down, but he will also move forward. When he moves
forward, move behind him and into a corner, then as he
moves back, backtrack and get in front of him again. Once
you kill it, you move on to the sixth and final stage.


=================================
9. Stage Six - Mechanical Stage
=================================

This is the final stage and it's a vertical scrolling stage. It can
be seen as a barrage of enemies and most of these enemies
are very fast and a few of them take many shots to kill. The
final boss of the game is actually found here and it all 
feels very anti climatic, particularly the ending. 

It opens with a few blue enemies, that look very
much like the old orange butterfly ones from
previous levels that open these stages. These
blue ones are pretty quick though. They come in
from the left and right and continue to alternate. A few 
of them will travel in a large set and move in a Z 
formation. Most of these are pretty easy to shoot up
or avoid, there are even a few of the orange ones and
they are easy too. There will be some white things that
look like fur balls jumping out in front of you and then
firing at you. Just avoid those and keep firing. They jump
out in a set of four, fire, and then disappear. Then 
four more will do it and then finally around 6 or 7 will do
that. 

Things that look like flashing pool balls will fly out of
the top of the screen. Just avoid these. They are
accompanied by fireballs that like to jump around, 
avoid these too. The fireballs can't be destroyed, but
you can destroy the pool balls with one shot. You will
then go up against some minor orange ship looking
enemies and this opening is fairly easy to make your
way through. This doesn't take much strategy. Just
shoot and dodge anything you don't kill. 

Next you will enter a mechanical looking area, with
a green background that actually looks like a pool
table. On the sides will be enemies shooting at you.
This is actually very hard to get through and it's
good to have the missile upgrade in use. This will
allow you to shoot the enemies on the walls before
you get to them. They fire a lot of missiles and it's
hard to maneuver through them. I can't really explain
how to get through them. You'll just have to look
for openings in between the missiles and move
through them. 

Pass through a narrow passage and avoid the
fireball. Next kill the blue ships, because they
will collide into your ship if you try to pass 
them. Also, kill the orange ones and acquire
the missile powerup if you don't already have it.
You'll really need it up ahead. The reason? There
are some objects on the sides of the walls that
are about to attack you. They will move toward
you when you pass by them. However, if you have
the missiles weapon, you can shoot them before you
even get to them. There are four sets of them and 
then three more sets of them. After this, pass through
narrow way and avoid the fireball. 

You are now in a very difficult area of the game. There
are statue heads on the left and right of the screen.
They are facing down and toward you. They shoot
out things that look like little metal doughnuts. They
have a hole in the center of them. You can shoot 
these things and get rid of them with one shot. However,
there are a lot of them. Just move through them and
remember that there are around a dozen of these
statues. They sit on the left and the right of the screen.
Next you will take on two of these alone. They will jump
around the screen. Stay low and at the bottom of the
screen. Shoot them around 15-20 times each to destroy
them. 

You will then pass through an area with the enemies 
attached to the walls and they will shoot missiles at 
you. Then you move into a small hallway and you have
to shoot more statues. Just avoid these and the screen
will scroll. You will eventually pass them and an alert
will sound. You are now at the final enemy of the game. 

This enemy is pretty easy. There is a snake floating
around the large red eyeball looking thing. Kill the snake.
To do this, all you do is just keep your ship at the main
bottom of the screen and fire. The snake drops blue 
things, but they are easy to avoid. The snake will die
soon and the screen will begin to scroll again. Keep
firing at the blue eyeball as it scrolls up. In no time at 
all the large eye will explode and you  have killed the
final enemy....but......

The game doesn't end here. You have to escape from
this area. The screen will scroll extremely fast. You have
to fly your ship through very small areas of bars that
appear as you pass through. I'll try to give the location
of the holes in these bars, but it really takes just 
playing the game and seeing them. It's actually fairly 
easy to do. The first four or five give you a wide area
to fly through the center of these bars. Then you have
to move to the left and then to the right. It will start
forcing you to move diagonally through them. You 
continue through about fifteen of these bars, moving 
back and forth from the left to the right. Near the end
you will have a bar that will close completely together
That's the hardest one to avoid. Just remember to push
you ship forward really fast. Then that's it. I would try
to detail the order exactly of the bars, but I will try to 
place a summary here of how I remember them. Just remember
to try to move diagonally and avoid getting destroyed
by the bar the completely closes in near the end. 

Once you pass that, you escape and the ending rolls.
 It's not much of an ending, but feel happy that you 
just finished Life Force....


=================
10. Credits
=================

- The game and the makers of the game
- Myself, because this was pretty hard to write
- Anybody that ever encouraged me to write
- Anybody that reads this
- Game manual, where I got the name of the stages
and other minor things. 

===================
11. Copyright
===================

Don't use this document without my permission.
That's pretty simple....email me if for some reason
you do want to use this.

Copyright 2000
inkhands@yahoo.com